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THE WEDDING PIC

Should You Allow Children at Your Wedding?

Most of us love children – they are adorable, fun, and bring festive vibes with them at most events. But we don’t really love when children start jumping on the head table stage or start touching the dessert table before it’s even ready to go. Right? Let’s face it, we can’t have our cake and have it too when it comes to kids. Having children at a wedding comes with the pros and the cons so you have to consider both when deciding whether or not to have little munchkins at your wedding.

Image by La Belle Bella Photo

Pros of Having Children at Your Wedding:

The children will be a part of the life long memory and documentation of your wedding. If you have a lot of close family and friends who have children then you might regret not inviting them when you look back at your wedding day. I love looking through old photos from family weddings and seeing myself as a child. In my own wedding photos, I love seeing my little cousins as toddlers compared to now that they are big kids. It’s a memorable moment so you might want all of the important people their despite the age.

Guests who have children will appreciate the gesture. Parents who cannot easily arrange child care may be upset by not being able to bring their children. Some parents decline invites all together when they cannot bring their kids along. I would consider who you are inviting who have kids and then make a choice whether its worth upsetting them.

Cons of Having Children at Your Wedding:

Children are unpredictable. We have all seen kids have tantrums or suddenly decide to play Tag in the middle of the dance floor. These are things we just can’t control and the problem with inviting children, is you don’t have control over how they will act during key moments in the wedding. We had a bride once tell us that the kids at her wedding were screaming while playing tag in the hallway – DURING THE SPEECHES! The parents were busy mingling with other guests (can you blame them?).

Some of your guests will be disappointed. It is inevitable that some of your guests who cannot easily arrange for a baby sitter – will be upset. You should talk to those parents in advance if you really want them there to make sure that not inviting their children doesn’t impact their RSVP.

You will likely need an entertainer for the kids. Hiring a clown will be a huge hit but it is an extra logistics and cost. It’s a great investment though if you are having children at the wedding. The parents can relax and you don’t have to worry about bored kids creating chaos :).

Plan a children’s menu. Now you obviously do not want to pay $75 per chair for kids to have a steak that they won’t even want in the first place. You will have to arrange a kids menu (pizza or chicken fingers/fries) for the kids.